I went to the Neuro for the first time today and he prescribed me topamax as the preventative and imitrex injections for my attacks. I wont be able to pick up my presriptions till tomorrow thought but I was wondering if anyone has had any luck with either of these?

to be honest ive been on topamax several times but never by itself.most recently it was lithium and topamax together.i actually stopped the topamax and got great results with the lithium alone.what mg will you be taking?
the imitrex has always took care of my hits very quickly but during my bad times i was having to take way to many.i still use it when i have to but i now use oxygen when the situation allows

the topamax is 25mg and the doctor said I have to start at one a day and work up to 2 tabs twice daily. He wants to see how that works and then I go back in a month for a check. The imitrex injections I believe he gave me 4 with 5 refils and said I can use up to two daily.

i hope you get good results from it,,,i know alot of people will say they dont like the side effects of "dopamax" as they call it..i was on 240mg a day and really didnt have a problem.it is kinda funny how different doctors prefer different meds as the first one to try.my doc wanted topamax to be one of the last ones i tried where as yours is the first.did your doc talk about any other meds?are you episodic or chronic

I believe that, having put our care into a doc's hands, that we owe them a fair trial with their recommendations. That being said, if you don't like the outcome I'd not be shy about asking for a change.

Reports here on Top are mixed and it would not be my first choice for a starting med but give it a chance......

Bob Johnson wrote on Jun 29^th, 2009 at 8:23pm:

I believe that, having put our care into a doc's hands, that we owe them a fair trial with their recommendations. That being said, if you don't like the outcome I'd not be shy about asking for a change.

That is GOLDEN advice. Fair amount of doc bashing goes on around here...me included (and I don't apologize for it, for them or me...it's a jungle out there). BUT, Bob is right...give it a chance with ALL your heart...attitude is as important as any med.

Best wishes,

Jon

topamax never worked for me, but i suppose it works for some.  there are so many different treatments out there that work for some and not for others.  the one thing that almose everyone agrees on, however, is oxygen treatments.  Imitrex injections work almost immediatly, but there are alot of side effects, and usually you can only get like 6 doses per month.   You can follow the imitrex tip on the side bar, and stretch your doses,  but I urge you to ask your doc about oxygen. and make sure you ask him for a high enough flow and the correct mask.  You will need 15-17 lpm, and a non rebreather mask.  

good luck, and keep posting and let us know how you are doing
Christine :D

Thank you for all your replies. My doctor didnt really talk with me about any other preventatives. He told me he wanted to start me on the topamax and see how that works but the suggested different abortives but I requested the Imitrex in jections because my uncle has CH and recommended that I try that first. As for being episodic or chronic I have never been told. All I know is I've had these headaches off and on for as long as I can remember but ever since atleast December of 08 Ive had them every single day 1-3 times daily.

These lists will give you an "inventory" of current therapies and a tool to use in discussing options with your doc.
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Here is a link to read and print and take to your doctor.  It describes preventive, transitional, abortive and surgical treatments for CH. Written by one of the better headache docs in the U.S.  (2002)
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Michigan Headache & Neurological Institute for another list of treatments and other articles:

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After hearing about the side effects of Topamax, I was too scared to use it the first time I visited my neuro several years ago.  Memory loss alone ruled it out because the wife lets me hear about my selective hearing all of the time, LOL.  Remember these are "possible" side affects, it doesn't mean you'll get them.
I still have the bottle in my medicine cabinet.  I resorted to Imitrex for years to abort, but now have stopped that too because of rebound headaches.  I'd love to get into O2, but it will have to be w/o insurance because mine doesn't cover it.
Now I simply use rc seeds once a month and have been PF w/o
any pharmaceutical med for almost 1 year.  I usually would have had two cycles by now.  

You just got to find the right magic for "you".

Wishing you PF days!

Chad

I tappered up to 600mg of Topamax and still had no luck with it.  I did take 900mg of lithium and it cut the 8x/day ch to 4x/day ch.  It also lowered the intensity from kip 10 to kip 5.  So with that I managed it.  Unfortunatly, the beast found my address agian after a couple of years and lithium lost its effectiveness and things reverted back to 8x/day ch kip10s.  Sucked.